Division I Men

UVA Needs Comeback to Beat OSU in Horseshoe

from press release

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Overcoming a five-goal
deficit, Chris Bocklet scored four goals and Ryan Tucker tallied
his second career hat trick to elevate No. 1 Virginia (8-0) to an
11-9 triumph over the Ohio State Buckeyes (3-4) on Saturday
afternoon, inside historic Ohio Stadium. UVA finished the final
three quarters on a 10-3 run to take the victory.

"I give our kids credit for working back, and knowing we needed
to be patient and knowing we were not going to get it all back on
one shot," said Virginia men's lacrosse head coach Dom Starsia. "I
thought after the first quarter we played hard and played pretty
smart – it wasn't a flawless performance, but was a pretty
good 'W' on the road."

Ohio State won 6-of-8 faceoffs in the first period to storm out
to a 6-1 advantage over the Cavaliers. The Buckeyes streaked out to
a 3-0 lead on unassisted goals by Jesse King, Turner Evans and Nick
Liddil. After Chris Bocklet deposited his first score on a Colin
Briggs pass at 8:44, Ohio State scored three-straight goals to
finish the first quarter scoring.

"I thought we missed some ground balls early facing off," said
Starsia. "I thought Mick Parks gave us a little spark and then Ryan
Benincasa got back in the flow of it. That certainly made a
difference. With a team that likes to slow the ball as much as they
did - scoring and getting the ball back on the faceoff was a
frustration for us in terms of getting the ball back and into the
hands of our offensive players."

UVA bounced back and the defense held Ohio State scoreless for
the next 17:41. In the process the Cavaliers scored five-straight
goals, two by Bocklet, to tie the contest at 6-6 going into the
intermission. All five goals during the run were assisted, as Matt
White had two helpers during the run.

Ohio State scored two goals to open up the third quarter,
staking themselves to a 8-6 lead on scores from Logan Schuss and
Evans' second goal.

The Cavaliers commenced a 5-0 run to storm out to their first
lead, 11-8. Bocklet started the scoring with his fourth goal of the
game at the 9:48 mark in the third quarter. Ryan Tucker scored
back-to-back goals to give UVA its first lead of the game, 9-8, at
the 12:29 mark in the fourth quarter.

A Mark Cockerton unassisted goal and a Rob Emery rocket put the
game out of reach, 11-8, with 5:52 left in the game. King's second
goal of the game finished out the game's scoring with 4:23 left in
the contest, as UVA was able to run the clock down.

After winning only 2-of-8 faceoffs in the opening period, UVA
went 11-of-16 the rest of the game to win the battle in the
statistical category, 13-11. Ground balls were even, 31-31, as Ohio
State outshot the Cavaliers, 35-31.

UVa goalie Rob Fortunato made 10 saves in the cage. Stanwick led
UVA with three assists, while UVa assisted nine of its 11 goals on
the afternoon.

Virginia returns to action next Saturday for the annual rivalry
with the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. Currently ranked this week No. 2
in the nation by both the media and coaches poll, Johns Hopkins and
UVa will meet for the 85th time in a series that began in 1904. The
Cavaliers and Blue Jays for the eighth time fight for the Doyle
Smith Cup, the spoils of the regular season victor. Faceoff is set
for 2 p.m. inside Klöckner Stadium and the contest will be
televised on ESPNU in HD.